Are We Catholic Or Not?

I watch the theological posts of my Anglican friends, who run the gamut from Anglo-Pentecostal to Anglo-Calvinist to Anglo-Papalist, with much intrigue, and honestly with a little sadness, as they strive to prove to one and all that their version of Anglicanism is the true or "classical" one. Alas, the vexing question of Anglican identity.

My own take at this juncture in my Anglican studies is somewhat different. On the one hand, as a Westerner soteriologically speaking I stand squarely in the Augustinian school, which means at the bare minimum that I believe no one becomes a Christian unless God makes him one. On the other hand, I am increasingly of the mind that the Reformation, including the English Reformation, has empirically shown itself to be a failed experiment, its laudable Augustinian underpinnings notwithstanding. All Anglicans, from the Cranmerians to the Catholics, have argued that the Reformed Church of England and her progeny is nothing less than the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith, restored in England by the pious efforts of Reformers, Kings and Parliaments. Ideally in these folks' thinking, "Catholic" and "Protestant" need not be opposed, especially since in Anglicanism, so the argument runs, the Reform was essentially Catholic.

However, those who stress the Protestant character of Anglicanism need to come to terms with the fact that the history of Protestantism is one that betrays one defection from historic Catholic faith after another, in both its "conservative" and liberal expressions. For me, this is the determinative and damning commentary on the Reformation.

When the Cranmerians and Carolinians alleged that the Church of England sought to be nothing more than the Church of the Fathers, did they really mean what they said? Do their modern successors mean what they say? I really wonder. Neo-Puritans (Presbyterians with prayer books), charismaniacs, egalitarians (WO), emergentists: what a hodge-podge of everything that is anything but historically and essentially Catholic.

Canon Arthur Middleton nails it, IMHO. And so my advice to my Anglo-Protestant friends is this: give up the old Anglican claim to catholicity. You may be altogether right in your ecclesiological and soteriological claims, but if so, give up that claim. Be the Protestants that you are, and Lord bless. Perhaps you will finally be able to manifest what the Reformers, and their progeny to date, have never been able to manifest.

As for me, I seek full incorporation into that "one, holy, catholic and apostolic church" in which we say we believe when we recite the Creed, and I can only do so as an *English* Catholic, not a Roman one or an Orthodox one. I intend to follow the Lord's will, *whatever that may be*, now that I have separated from a Colorado parish and seek to enter into a North Carolinian one, but I'm thinking that the ramification of what I've said here means a return to the Anglican Continuum, which Continuum hopes some day to find a satisfactory ecclesial reconciliation with Rome or Orthodoxy (likely the latter). We shall see about that. Regardless, my Anglicanism can only be that of a Catholic kind, in keeping with the stated sentiments of Cranmerians and Carolines and Tractarians, however much they have missed the mark in that regard.

Happily, I have more options here in WNC than I did in Denver, as far as the Continuum is concerned.

Comments

[The Haunted Bookman]

Dear EP,

I'm right there with you. The Reformation Churches, for all there good and noble emphases, cannot by definition be a *new* thing if we believe in a thing called the Catholic Church. Rome has done damage to its own claims by unneeded accretions; and Protestantism has had a remarkably difficult time demonstrating its roots have not been plucked up -- though Anglicanism and Lutheranism both do a remarkable job on the patristics front.

That said, I must either be happy as one catholic Anglican among relatively few faithful catholic Anglicans, or jump over to Rome and be happy being a faithful catholic there among relatively few faithful Catholics there. Either way, the times are evil and fidelity is in short supply. Being the best English Catholic I know how to be within the Anglican framework is the only thing that makes sense to me. I feel your pain and appreciate it.

Blessings. I've often considered getting over to NC myself with the wife and kids in tow. Would love to finally meet you face to face. It's been a long time since the old Renewing Your Mind forum days (nearly 20 years now!)

In Pax Christi,
St. Worm aka Haunted Bookman

[Ken]

If you make it down Asheville way, please visit us at S. Michaels in Arden.

My I inquire as to you new town?

[Embryo Parson]

Ken, we're in Hendersonville! I'm looking at both APA parishes nearby and a new OAC work, Blue Ridge Abbey. You and I must meet after we get settled.

[Ken]

Great, welcome to the area.

[AnAwkwardAardvark]

Amen and amen. I read this post after the one you posted next. This post strikes my heart at where I am at now, after exploring Orthodoxy for years and then the Continnuum and finally ACNA. I may have to join a small APCK parish but unfortunately my family is the youngest by 25 years.

[Ken]

If there is a doctrinal foundation for an Anglican church, it probably should be the Scriptures, the BCP, the Articles and the Homilies.

I very rarely hear the Articles and Homilies being referenced from the pulpit, which is a pity as the Articles are excellent (the Homilies I have no experience other than reading a few snippets here and there, which I plan to rectify via Google Books).